A little guy and his blankee

It was exhilirating to welcome in the New Year yesterday and to return to work today.

I woke up to perfection. Barry had brewed a pot of coffee and the delicious aroma was wafting throughout the house. As I stepped outside for the newspaper, I felt a wonderful early morning warmth. The breeze was ever so slight and whispered a welcome to the new day.

My favorite red coffee mug with the green pine tree graphic was waiting for me in the kitchen. The mug with just the perfect rim. A brand new box of my favorite cereal, Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus, was a fingertip away. And my jar of wheat germ and container of raisins were right there too.

And oh yeah, my absolute favorite navy blue sweat pants and black Brown University fleece jacket (with pockets the perfect size for a cell phone) were all clean and dry and waiting in the dryer for me to slide on.

Soon Audrey arrived. She had Benjamin with her. He quickly settled into his day… crawling, exploring, standing on tiptoes, reaching for things on table tops and bookcases.

Well, Ally was tired from all the coughing and sneezing and nose-blowing and all he wanted to do was sleep. But how does he sleep without his favorite (well, only-one-in-the-world-that-will-do-for-sleeping) blankee?

He doesn’t.

We tried to give him the soft red one that Benjamin loves.

No.

We offered the gray cashmere special.

No way.

We tried the purple Pottery Barn chenille.

Were we kidding?

And the blue hand-made treasure.

What?

I then dug out the exact replica of the Ally-blankee. The one I had purchased for exactly an occasion such as this.

Who did I think I was kidding?

Ally would have none of it.

Finally, Audrey called her husband to p-l-e-a-s-e drive to my house with his blankee.

The r-e-a-l blankee.

He did, and all was well with the world.

But the whole incident did get me thinking, and this is my analysis.

If I had gotten up this morning to decaf in a shallow-and-thin-rimmed tea cup, stepped outside to find that my newspaper hadn’t arrived yet as a nor’easter kind of wind blew my door off its hinges, searched my cabinets for my favorite cereal and came up with stale pop tarts and lumpy white sugar, and then discovered that I forgot to turn on my dryer last night and my clothing was in a damp heap… well, maybe I would have none of it either.

So if all a little guy needs is his what-used-to-be-white blankee with the rather-rough-edges to be happy at sleepy-time… then so be it.